Two kids in the police car

We’ve been debating selling the police car because Owen just never uses it—we practically have to force him to drive it. We mentioned selling it and he kinda freaked out saying he loved it. So we told him if he used it, we’d keep it. It would kill me to get rid of it since it was EXPENSIVE and he WANTED IT…but I hate to move it if he’s not going to use it (since there’s lots fewer places to drive it at the new place). I had hoped Katie would like it, but thus far she’s been mostly scared of it. So Owen got in it today…and had A BLAST. And after watching Owen in for about 20 minutes, Katie wanted to get in…and boy did they have fun.

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Helping Katie with the speaker.

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Awwwww!

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The car was charging so the seats were out—so Katie hauled them around to sit on them.

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Then daddy put them up here for a photo op. 🙂

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Owen reading…and not.

So this morning he wanted to read his book on his own.

He did pretty good again.

But.

We tried to have him read tonight and he seemingly couldn’t read one single word! What the—?!?!

We know he guesses at words when he’s not sure (instead of sounding them out) but he wasn’t even doing that tonight. The word was can and he’s saying fish or something. WHAAAAA?!

So, this new skill isn’t quite as locked down as I’d magically hoped. 🙂

How Owen helps Katie down the slide

Katie wanted to get off the playset so I kept telling her to go through the tube and down the slide. She wanted me to get her down. No, Katie, through the tube and down the slide. She eventually made it to the slide then just sat there like this, pouting. 🙂

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Then Owen “helped” her. Which is basically flinging her down the slide under the guise of holding her hand. And she doesn’t care one bit. 🙂

Siblings having a swinging good time

At an impasse…

Katie was swinging and Owen asked if he could, too. (Of course he doesn’t need to ask but he does.) This wasn’t quite what I expected:

Then he was all about pushing Katie. He’s never really wanted to before…so…YAY!

First, a hug. 🙂

Then a few pushes.

Then he decided to twist her—and OH the fun both of them had!!

More twisting!

Pushing…and getting kicked…and loving it!

Swinging together! He’d get her moving then hop on his own swing!

Finally, Owen twisting himself!

I’m glad they’re enjoying the swings…but why did Owen have to start liking them NOW? A year after we got the playset and a month before we have to sell it? See? The guilt. 🙂

Owen’s first face-painting!

We stopped at the farmers market on the way home from a Costco run…and they had face painting! Owen had never had it done, and I thought I might be able to entice him with a superhero…and it worked!!

The before:

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He had a handful to choose from. Can you tell who he picked?

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Katie and daddy were waiting:

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Sponging on some red…

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Painting some lines…

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The final product—he was suddenly shy and wouldn’t look at me and wanted to go to the car. Oh well.

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But once we got to the car, he had turned into Spider-Man and he was ALL SMILES!

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And even throwing webs!

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When we got home, he was a super big help unloading the car, and then I heard “Mama take a picture!” Yep, he had found his matching Spider-Man Lego head! 🙂

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Katie’s first popsicle

A mommy group friend invited us over after school to play on their waterslide (that Owen LOVES). Katie enjoyed it, too, along with the swingset and the trampoline.

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Owen also ate a Popsicle—almost. He ate about half of it then wanted to save it. He was a bit upset when I said it wasn’t possible (it was about 85°)!

A friend making Katie laugh with funny faces!

Messy walk = early bath

It rained last night so there were still a few puddles in our cul-de-sac. Of course, Katie is drawn to water (as most kids are) and she needed a bath anyway…

It starts off innocent enough…

Even though she says it’s yucky she doesn’t stop!

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Taking a break.

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So she was pretty wet by the time we were ready to go home…and of course she wanted me to carry her (in my white shirt).

First thing we did when we got home—bath!

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Post-bath cuteness!

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The kids helped me make cookies!

Nothing intensive…just a quick sugar cookie bag mix that I got on clearance at Target. I figured that was our speed. 🙂

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I gave Owen the option of making colored cookies and he wanted blue (his favorite color)!

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After we finished the first tray, there was still a bit left, so Owen made these four—“One for each of us!” 🙂

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Passing the time, waiting for the cookies to bake.

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Enjoying the spoils!

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It’s my bed!

When I was with Owen in the bathroom getting his teeth brushed, I saw Tom sneak by into Owen’s room, turn off the light, and shut the door. I wasn’t quite sure what he was planning, so I started recording. 🙂

I love hearing him laugh!! Especially as lately he’s been having a rough time…he worries when we’re out of his sight, he wants to know where we are in the house, most of the time he’ll come running (and crying) if he looks for us and doesn’t immediately see us…

And bedtime is the worst. He’s always been a great sleeper—but recently he’s been crying at bedtime, getting up out of bed to come find us, etc. We’ve asked if something happened to make him worry more and he says no… We feel bad, but it gets old.

So anyway, it’s nice hearing his laugh at bedtime. Except afterwards when it was really bedtime, he started getting scared. Tonight it was monsters. So I layed his B on top of him and tucked it all around him, telling him it was magic and would protect him from everything. He liked that…

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And he promised to be brave…

Family time at the park!

Tom has a 96 (Friday through Monday off) so we took the kids to the park.

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This is as high as he’d go.

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“Daddy, how high can you go?” Tom pretty much just jumped straight to the top. 🙂

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Tom wanted to help Owen but Owen was freaked out and wanted NO part of it.

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After swinging on the toddler swing and the big kid swing, she wanted to try this one.

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For some unknown reason, Owen is way more freaked out about slides than when he was little. This was his second time down—after he made me catch him the first time.

On the pole again!

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Who knew a PB&J would be such a hit?

We went out for a sushi dinner and I made half a PB&J for Katie hoping she’d eat it. BOY DID SHE EVER! She loved it! She’d take a bite, set it down, have a drink…it was adorable!

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She also saw Owen try soy sauce (we dipped a clean chopstick in it) so she had to try, too. Then she dipped it in eel sauce off our plate and LOVED it.

Here she is just being cute at the end of the meal.